Most people would agree the first few weeks of the provincial election campaign were a bore.

Nobody scored points.

Everyone tossed policy planks against the wall hoping one or two would stick. Labour Day came and went, nothing was sticking.

On Wednesday, Saint John Lancaster Conservative candidate Peter Hyslop who prior to his candidacy was a public intervener before hearings of the Public Utility Board on electricity rate increases, called for someone in government to apologize to New Brunswickers for the Orimulsion fiasco.

After weeks of trying to get the issue in front of voters, the Liberals jumped on Hyslop’s remarks. The Premier denied responsibility and blamed management of NB Power for the boondoggle.

Guess what folks, it was the Premier and his Cabinet who made the $750 million decision and publicly announced the decision to refurbish the Coleson Cove generating plant so it could burn Orimulsion. The Venezuelan fuel was supposed to save electricity users $100 million a year for the next twenty years. That’s $2 billion dollars. There is no Orimulsion. There was no contract for the supply of Orimulsion.

The Premier says he was told by NB Power officials that everything was in order so they are to blame for the multi-billion loss.

What businessman or group of business people would make a $750 million decision, knowing the decision was based on the supply of a specific fuel and without knowing the supply was in place and assured?

• When people build office towers, they do so only with signed tenant agreements.
• When companies build aircraft, they do so only when they have signed purchase agreements from airlines or governments.
• When construction firms build highways, they do so with signed contracts from governments.
• When a car dealer orders a factory car, he does so with a signed purchase order.

None would undertake these projects on the basis of a memorandum of intent or an employee’s assurance that everything was in order. The Premier cannot escape blame for this decision.

On Thursday, I watched the French language leadership debate between Premier Lord and Opposition Leader Shawn Graham. I don’t understand a lot of French so I missed much of what was being said.

I didn’t miss the body language, voice tones or the facial colour changes. Mr. Lord is fluent and comfortable in French. Mr. Graham is more accomplished in French than I had previously assumed but his first language is clearly English. Mr. Lord’s delivery was confident but cool. Mr. Graham seemed relaxed and more personable.

There was one telling moment in the French language debate when Mr. Graham raised the issue of Orimulsion. The Premier fought back but he was clearly agitated and turned red in the face.

Guilty, not guilty or just p----- off because he knows that he bears some responsibility for the Coleson Cove/Orimulsion decision?

Who knows but I know this, the matter has earned the right of public inquiry. If that decision is going to cost us 2 or 3% a year on our electricity bill, we need to know who to blame so he or they can be replaced.

A business executive who made a $750 million mistake, even with the best of intentions would be fired in a heartbeat.

There are pressing issues to be discussed in this election but Orimulsion may be the defining issue because it speaks to competence and integrity.

In the English debate, Mssrs Lord and Graham shared the stage with NDP Leader Allison Brewer. This discussion created few sparks.

Lord deflected criticisms from Brewer and Graham appeared confident, relaxed in his skin and more polished than expected. Once again he scored points on the Orimulsion issue and Lord’s refusal to take responsibility for the multi-billion dollar decision.

During a particularly heated point in the discussion, Graham suggested that the Orimulsion fiasco will cost New Brunswick households some $8,000 and demanded an apology from Lord. The Lord didn’t respond.

I think the demand for apology misses the point. Apology is not enough. If the Lord is responsible, then he needs to wear the decision.

Lord promised that a third Conservative mandate would mean continued fiscal responsibility. He said that “leadership is about vision and making decisions...”. I agree with him. That’s why the Orimulsion decision may prove to be the defining issue in this campaign.

We have issues of education and wealth/job creation in New Brunswick. We have issues of healthcare and seniors care in New Brunswick. We have issues of population decline and skill shortages.

Each one demands the vision, the wisdom and the competence of individuals who can lead us toward solutions. Can we afford to entrust that leadership to people who make $750 million mistakes?

I was born in Moncton but I have only lived in this area for the last fourteen years. I have spent parts of every summer of my life here and lived elsewhere in the region for another dozen years.

Ever since I first moved to Atlantic Canada thirty years ago, I have been listening to people who say we are a “have-not” region or a “have not” province. We are not.

We are a region with economic and social challenges. We are a region far too dependent on federal government largess but we can do something about it and that makes us a “have region”. The only difference between having and not is leadership.

If we want to be a “have province” we have to select the leaders who can lead us to “have land”.

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com Atlantic Insight is a published Blog inventory of opinion articles published weekly in New Brunswick's print media as written by W.E. (Bill) Belliveau, who is a resident of Shediac, New Brunswick, and small business owner, operating his Moncton-based marketing consultancy, Bell Strategic. He can be reached by e-mail at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com